Combination hood latch and safety catch



March 1966 E. c. BECKMAN ETAL COMBINATION HOOD LATCH AND SAFETY CATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jan. 30. 1961 March 1966 E. c. BECKMAN ETAL 3,239,260

COMBINATION HOOD LATCH AND SAFETY CATCH Filed Jan. 30, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 WU w MGM BYM IN V EN TORS arrears (IQMBTNATHDN Htifil) LATCH AND @AFETY @ATQIH Ernest C. ltlecknian and Renard (B. Anderson, Rockford,

Ill, assignors to Modern Metal Products (30., Loves Park, llll, a corporation of lllinois Filed Jan. 39, 1961, Ser. No. 85,823 1 Claim. Cl. 292-11) This invention relates to improvements in a combination hood latch and safety catch mechanism for automotive vehicles, for securing a hood either in fully closed and latched position, or in a partially open, safety catch position.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide an improved mechanism of the above described character in which all the moving parts of the latch and catch mechanism may be assembled and permanently mounted on a single latch plate or base by the latch maker for shipment to the auto manufacturer, to coact with a keeper separately mounted on a keeper plate. The latch base then needs only to be secured to the hood and the keeper plate to the car body, both at previously prepared positions. The device is then in full operative condition, without any adjustment.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved hood latch and safety catch mechanism in which the latch is securely locked in unlatched position normally when the hood is open, but which is automatically rotated into latching position when it strikes the keeper during closing of the hood.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved mechanism in which a hood latch and safety catch are mounted on the same base and are so operatively related that the safety catch may be used to release or unlock the latch, preparatory to the opening of the hood.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved combination of hood latch and safety catch in which, if the latch be mischievously or otherwise restored to latching position while the hood is raised, the safety catch, during normal closing of the hood, will retract the latch so that it will not be damaged, after which final normal closing of the hood will cause the latch to swing normally into latching position.

Another object of the invention is to provide a compact mechanism of the character described which may readily and economically be fabricated from metal stampings.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be mentioned hereinafter, or will become apparent from a perusal of this specification, in which is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawings, FIGURE 1 is primarily a plan view, slightly in perspective, of the entire mechanism of the invention, showing it in fully closed and latched position.

FIG. 2 is another plan view of the mechanism, showing the latch in a locked released position, but with the safety catch in holding or safety position.

FIG. 3 is a plan View of the latch.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the oscillatable latch control.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the safety catch.

FIG. 6 is a side elevation of the latch base or mounting plate.

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the same latch base.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the keeper and keeper mounting plate.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation of one of the two flanged pivot posts which secure the latch and catch mechanisms pivotally to the latch base, by the riveting of the smaller ends of these posts to the rear of the base.

Referring further to the drawings, there is shown therein a keeper plate Til, having secured thereto, as by weldnited States Patent 0 3,239,260 Patented Mar. 8, 1966 ing or otherwise, a U-shaped keeper .12. If desired, the upper end 13 of the keeper rod stock may be flattened as shown and welded to the plate, while the lower end 14 may extend through an aperture in the plate and be riveted or welded thereto. Apertures such as 15 and 16 are provided, whereby the keeper plate may be securely bolted to some rigid support on or portion of the vehicle, in position to coact with the latch and safety catch. As many of these apertures as is desirable may be elongated slots for facilitating vertical adjustment of the keeper on the vehicle.

The latch mounting plate or 'base, generally indicated as 17 and provided with an embossed stiffening rib 18, is intended for mounting on a previously prepared support, such as a bracket, provided on the inner side of the front end of the hood. The sloted apertures 19 will permit lateral adjustment when the base is being secured to such a bracket or other support.

When the latch base is being stamped, flanges such as 21 may be formed on opposite vertical margins thereof to increase the rigidity of the base. The lower bifurcated ends 22 and 23 of the base, defining the keeper receiving slot 24-, are flanged to a lesser depth, to facilitate telescoping with the keeper plate. A spring support bracket 25, shaped as shown, may be welded to one flange of the latch base, and is provided with an aperture 26 to receive one end of a spring, later described. Base 17 is embossed slightly at 27 and 28 surrounding pivot pin holes 29 and 31, to provide proper guide surfaces for oscillative movement of the latch mechanism.

The movable parts of the asembly are shown individually in FIGS. 3, 4, and 5. The latch is identified as 32, the latch control as 33, and the safety catch as 34.

When assembled, the latch 32 and safety catch 34 are pivoted on post or pivot pin 35, while the latch control is pivoted on post or pivot pin 36. This latter post extends through slot 37 of the safety catch, to guide the latter and retain it in proper operative position. Suitable pivot holes 38, 39 and 41 are provided in these movable parts to receive the pivot posts.

The spiral spring 4 2, whose opposite ends are hooked into suitable apertures in the outwardly bent spring support brackets 43 and 44, tends .to urge these brackets to rotate toward each other about the pivots 35 and 36. Another spiral spring 45, whose ends are hooked into the outwardly bent spring support brackets 45 and 25, bias the safety catch to clockwise rotation.

The latch 32 is provided with fingers 47 and 48 on opposite sides of the keper engaging slot 4?. When finger 43 strikes the keeper 12 during full closing movement of the hood, the latch is thereby cammed or rotated to full latching position and becomes locked by the latch control 33.

The safety catch 34 has a hook 51 which coacts with keeper 12 to perform a well known safety function. An inclined striker surface 52 on the safety catch coacts with the keeper 12 to rotate the catch counter clockwise when the hood is approaching closed position. A flange 53 of any suitable dimensions is bent outwardly from the safety catch serving as a handle for manual release of the safety catch and, simultaneously, the release of the latch.

A latch release detent 54 is formed from a strikeout pressed inwardly from the outer face of the safety catch. The detent thus formed is positioned within the area or limits of the arcuate recess 55, formed in the latch control 33. This may be observed in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The mechanism may be operated from latched to hood releasing position as follows. When the latch is fully closed and locked, a finger 56 on the latch control is then spring-biased against cam face 57 of a nose on the edge of the latch. This positively locks the latch, and thus holds the hood tightly and fully closed under normal conditions. When the operator lifts on the handle 53 and rotates the safety catch enough to clear the keeper, the detent 54 will become engaged with the left hand margin of recess 55 and further manual rotation of the safety catch will cause the detent to rotate the latch control 33 until its finger 56 disengages from cam face 57. Up to this instant the latch will not have been rotated, since in the latched position the cam face 57 is generally concentric with the axis of the latch control 33 but as soon as finger 56 disengages from cam face 57 the spring 42 will rotate the latch clockwise to the position shown in FIG. 2, provided at the time the hood be lifted enough to permit rotation of latch finger 48 relatively to the keeper, that is, in a reversal of the latching movement.

When the latch attains the position shown in FIG. 2, control finger 56 rests on the top cam surface of the nose 59. Thus, the latch is locked in fully released or unlatched position and held cocked for subsequent latching engagement with the keeper.

If the operator continues to lift the hood and to hold the handle 53 fully rotated, the safety hook 51 will pass the keeper. If he does not, the hook may engage the keeper and hold the hood in safety position.

When the hood later is lowered with enough force to reach fully latched position, the striker surface 52 on hook 51 will engage the keeper and move to one side and then be restored to normal position. The striker or camming finger 48 of the latch will bear down on the keeper, positively rotating the latch counter-clockwise toward latching positon and, if the lowering movement continues far enough, the latch control finger 56 will slide off the cam surface 59, whereupon spring 42 will quickly rotate the latch control counter-clockwise, causing the finger 56 to move into latch-locking engagement with the cam surface 57.

It will be apparent that if the closing movement is sufficient to cause hook 51 to pass the keeper but not sufficient to lock the latch, the hood will at least be held in safety position.

Whenever the operator initially attempts to open the hood, if he does not rotate the safety catch enough to clear the keeper, the detent 54 will not unlock and release the latch. The hood will not move up until he rotates the safety catch far enough to clear the keeper, release the latch and cock the latch in open position. This will be recognized as a safety feature, protecting the latch mechanism against inadvertent damage.

If, while the hood is raised, it should happen that the latch be released intentionally or otherwise from the unlatched and cocked position, and this condition not be noticed, during a subsequent normal closing of the hood the automatic retraction of the safety catch as it engages the keeper will also, by means of its detent 54 and latch control 33, rotate the latch and recock it in unlatched position, so that finger 47 may not strike the keeper and, perhaps, cause damage to the latch assembly.

While the latch base 17 preferably is to be attached to the hood, it could be attached to some stationary part of the car body for cooperation with a keeper attached to the hood.

Other variations and modifications of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention defined in the appended claim.

Having shown and described our invention, we claim:

A latch mechanism for releasably latching a hinged hood element to a car-body element comprising in combination a latch mounting base having a relatively broad, fiat face adapted for mounting on a hinged hood in a plane parallel to the hood hinge axis and adapted for attachment to the hood element and having a bifurcated end portion defining a keeper receiving slot, a latch pivotally mounted on said base on an axis perpendicular to the face of the base and having a bifurcated portion formed of a striker finger and a latching finger defining a keeper engaging slot positioned to overlie the keeper receiving slot in a latched position and to rotate to one side of the keeper receiving slot in an unlatched position, a single nose on said latch formed by two intersecting cam faces, a manually operable safety catch pivotally carried by said base in face to face overlying relationship with said latch, said safety catch having a hook rotatable between an unlatched position to a second side of the keeper receiving slot and a latched position disposed across said slot, said hook including an outer striker surface positioned for engagement by the keeper as the hood element is moved to closed position to deflect the safety catch to unlatched position, and an inner edge disposed across the keeper receiving slot in spaced relation to the keeper engaging slot when the hook occupies the latched position, spring means for biasing the safety catch to latched position, manually operable means for moving the safety catch to unlatched position, a pivot pin anchored in said mounting base passing through the latch and the safety catch and having an enlarged head for pivotally supporting the latch and safety catch on the base, a latch control pivotally mounted on said base on an axis laterally of and parallel to the latch pivotal axis and in approximately coplanar relation to the latch, one of said earn faces being disposed in approximately concentric relation with the latch control axis when the latch occupies the latched position, a latch control pivot pin anchored to said mounting base, passing through the latch control and the safety catch and having an enlarged head pivotally supporting the latch control and retaining the latch control and safety catch in assembled relation, the safety catch having a slot for bodily movement of the safety catch relative to the latch control pivot pin, the latch control having a finger on a peripheral edge thereof and a shoulder on a peripheral edge thereof spaced angularly from the latch control finger, spring means connected with said latch and latch control mutually biasing said latch and latch control toward each other to engage said finger against said nose, the latch control finger and said concentric cam face mutually coacting under the bias of the spring means to retain the latch in latching position and means on the safety catch engageable with said shoulder on the latch control during rotation of the safety catch and after preliminary lost motion, in the direction of catch releasing, to rotate said latch control for disengaging said latch control finger from the conlcentric cam face of the latch nose and the latch from latched position.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,846,253 8/1958 Johnstone 292-25 2,924,473 2/1960 Krause 29211 3,010,749 11/1961 Brissette 292-27 FOREIGN PATENTS 693,341 6/1953 Great Britain.

ALBERT H. KAMPE, Primary Examiner. 

